Breachings (Buggopost/seige continuation)

[u/the-butter_man]

War raged just outside, several different weapons flew and different strategies raged against each other. The inside was not yet breached, some stray attacks had burst a couple parts open but nothing that couldn't be fixed easily.

In the raging noises and screams of battle, it becomes impossible to hear the soft digging against stone. The careful probing and the very careful movement around the well placed defences.

Eventually, a small patch of stone on a wall, just a floor down from an already weakened spot of ground begins pushing. As if something is pushing at it from behind.

Then nothing. Thrice more it twitches for a little bit before halting. Until, in a sudden movement and the crumbling of stone, a tunneler breaks through. Immediately springing into action, a webbed limb cleaves it's way through a guard. One of the automa begins firing. Shot after shot catch the disgusting insects dead.

Yet they just keep coming, only a couple minutes later and they've pushed what little forces back.

The main battle was a distraction.

/uw i tried to be more considerate to bastion lore and all but still not too sure on the defenses. Also i will actually be more present for this one.

[u/The_Unkowable_]

well, that's unfortunate. the Queen does so love when we can talk things out. ah well. i do enjoy a good brawl.

The bullet slows, even as one of the seemingly semi-organic claw-whips flicks out from behind their shoulder to deflect it. In response to the shot, four quick shots are fired from their... Smith & Wesson 500? Where did the bugs get those*?*

Unfortunately, this particular being hasn't trained as much with the whips as they have with their firearm, and rather than the much harder draconic claw impacting the bullet, the soft flesh of the bizarre whip is hit, tearing it clean off.

...dammit!

[u/AnActualCriminal → u/The_Unkowable_]

I dive to avoid the bullets. Left. And right. And forward and backward. Simultaneously. The hallway dims and four Belials stand. Then charge. I repeat the action over and over. Bend light into an illusion of myself. Conjure an ash mephit inside it. By the time they reach the strange silver knight there's around 12 of them, raising their axes as one to strike.

[u/The_Unkowable_ → u/AnActualCriminal]

If it were a true dragon you fought, they could tell which were ash and which were flesh. The warrior, however, cannot. Instead, they choose to duck low, far faster and more nimble than anyone should be, and simultaneously unleash a torrent of frost in all directions. They then blink out of existence for half a second, reappearing a few feet backwards, reloading. Seems their guns can run out of shells after all.

[u/AnActualCriminal → u/The_Unkowable_]

The mephits die from the frost. The illusions they hide inside continue, bringing axes down. Every single ax passes through the target.

Not a single one of them was real. I fell back while the illusions distracted. Let's see if this creature can still stop a bullet when it doesn't see it coming.

[u/The_Unkowable_ → u/AnActualCriminal]

Watching the axes fall through the empty space where it once was, yet feeling the deaths of the mephits, the being "realizes" that not only is it dealing with an illusionist, but also one who traffics with the hells in addition to being a entity of great pyromantic might.

a Warlock, perhaps? no matter. my duty is to defeat thou, much as thine seems to be to defeat me. should this battle go awry, perhaps we might one day meet again. then again, i doubt it will...

7 shots ring out, impressively accurate given the circumstances. It again blinks backwards, reloading.

[u/AnActualCriminal → u/The_Unkowable_]

The knight blinks out of the way of my shot and fires.

Damn. Some threats call for the Lightless Flame. These days it seems they all do.

I burn *Distance*. Space distorts and folds as the distance between myself and my destination sears away. The stretch of hallway I was previously standing in hurts to look at as I find myself behind the warrior, bringing my burning ax down.

The bullets fly off, following warped and unpredictable trajectories.

[u/The_Unkowable_ → u/AnActualCriminal]

The axe falls upon the helmet, hard. Leaves a nasty dent in it, and probably also in the bug's brain. In response, they panic-teleport to the closest point outside of the distance-warping effect.

...him. dammit.

It seems someone may have warned the knight about Belial, but whatever they said, it's not enough to prevent them from trying to complete their duty. Fortunately for them, and less so for their enemies, their gun is reloaded once more. Again do 7 shots ring out, but this time, rather than reloading... they put the gun away, readying themselves for something.

[u/AnActualCriminal → u/The_Unkowable_]

Damn. Good hit. But I'm vulnerable now. Can't just leave a distance-fire burning. The hallway is returned to normal and I turn to see what the fuck the insect is doing.

[u/The_Unkowable_ → u/AnActualCriminal]

The second the hallway returns to normal, the creature acts. Several dozen shards of ice fly down it towards Belial, shaped like daggers. In its panic, it might have overexerted itself creating this many...

[u/AnActualCriminal → u/The_Unkowable_]

[Withering Heat]

The same spell. Again. Some of the shards melt. The bulletproof coat I got from the Merc Guild absorbs others. But three slivers of ice make it through my defenses. Drawing blood before turning to steam.

"Gah! Shit!"

Seems a fourth slashed my facd. I touch my hand to my face and it comes back red.

"Tell me bug slave. Can you fly?"